To the Editor:

The purpose behind metered parking is to help ensure availability. However, Potsdam is neither a tourist hub nor a populated metropolis. Since 2020, I have had no issue finding a parking space downtown. Out of hundreds of trips, I can recall only a couple when I had to park at the municipal lot across from Roxy. It is not uncommon to drive through the downtown and witness numerous vacant spots.

Potsdam should be a model of visitor-friendliness, a place where students are encouraged to congregate and study, where residents are invited to shop and stroll the streets. The village should desire businesses and working members of the community to engage in their activities over a meal or coffee.

The existing meters, an anachronism in the digital age, place an undue burden on residents and, in particular, students who live in a world where coins are a relic of the past. When was the last time you saw someone under the age of 40 pay for something with cash? It is a perplexing anomaly that in 2023, the Potsdam village compels students to acquire change in order to park in a town that claims to be “college-friendly”.

While some may argue that the proposed kiosks could alleviate this burden, it is fiscally illogical to expect that an investment of $250,000 would yield any income for the foreseeable future. At $0.25 for 75 minutes of parking, this would necessitate 1,250,000 hours to break even. With 100 metered spots throughout the village, this would require each to be occupied for 12,500 hours, or 520 days of uninterrupted parking. And that doesn’t even account for the transaction fees or the ongoing management costs.

I submit that Potsdam reallocates the proposed kiosk investment towards the provision of free parking—thereby helping to support our downtown and our community at large.

However, if Potsdam deems it necessary to place upon the next generation of students and residents the undue burden of having to find and then carry change, they should, in the spirit of due diligence, furnish a feasibility study that outlines the annual expenses tied to both the current meters and the proposed kiosks, juxtaposed against the yearly revenue generated from the current meters.

I propose that a town free of meters would not only be aesthetically more pleasing but would also send a clear signal that we are a community that welcomes the presence of people in our downtown.

Josh McGrath,
lifelong resident of Potsdam